With the release of patch 5.0.4, we’re making all the races of Azeroth playable by anyone, no matter which version or expansion of World of Warcraft they own. This includes the enigmatic pandaren, who will become available for play when Mists of Pandaria is released on Tuesday, September 25. We want the entire World of Warcraft community to be able to embrace their inner goblin, blood elf, worgen, draenei, or pandaren from the moment they step foot into the world of Azeroth.

Now, the only hard part will be choosing a name. Who will you be next?

Originally Posted by Blizzard
(Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

I've seen some confusion about when pandaren character creation will be accessible.

Just to be clear on the announcement, we're making it possible for people to create a character of any race, regardless of what expansions you've purchased. So if you only have the original game (which now has The Burning Crusade included), when patch 5.0.4 hits you'll be able to create goblin and worgen characters as well. And, once Mists of Pandaria is released, you'll be able to create pandaren characters, regardless of whether or not you own Mists of Pandaria.

So it says all races, what about though all classes? Just because Pandaren become available for play regardless if you have MoP or not, does this include the new monk class?
No, you'll need to upgrade your World of Warcraft license to Mists of Pandaria in order to unlock the monk class. The same is true for leveling from 85-90 and gaining access to the continent of Pandaria.

It includes Pandaren after Sep 25th. It is interesting that you would be able to buy Vanilla/BC, then roll a Pandaren, and do the Pandaren starting quests on the turtle. Im guessing you cant be a DK w/o Wrath or a monk w/o MoP though.

That would be correct. It also means you can't utilize any of the new race/class combos w/o Cata.

The ONLY thing this does is let people who dont have the Cata xpac play as Worgens/Goblins.

Who the fuck doesnt have the Cata xpac? So this change is for like 15 people...

People are happy to see a positive new change, and YOUR panties are in a very tight bunch? Common, you can't be serious with that attitude...

Time and again people have voiced their concerns about people having to upgrade to the latest expansion to pick a race they really want, instead of buying the first part, jumping in, play and then decide to upgrade. This change is aimed to anyone wanting to start playing WoW. If you think that's 15 people, then the joke's on you.

Sweet! I already reserved my Panda's name, now all I got to do is wait for 28th August ^^

No you wait til the 25th of september. Read the article. It says you can play any race regardless of which expansion you own. MoP is technically not released therefore it doesn't technically become an ownable expansion until september 25th. Meaning if you have only vanilla...you can play a blood elf or draenei because Burning Crusade is an ownable expansion come patch 5.0.4. You can play a goblin or worgen because Cataclysm is an ownable expansion as of 5.0.4. However, because MoP is NOT an ownable expansion until september 25th...that means that patch 5.0.4 will be released august 28th. It is releasing all past as well as FUTURE restrictions on race choices for expansions regardless of which you own. So since MoP is released on september 25th that is when patch 5.0.4 will have its technical effect on the pandaren because they will be considered an ownable expansion on that day.

Reading is a two step process. First, read the statement...second comprehend the meaning of the statement and think about it in a logical way. People are going to end up freaking out and complaining because blizzard probably didn't word it very clearly to some because they wanted to make it a short and to the point post...partially a mistake on their part for not making it easier to understand...but at the same time the reader should also be aware that MoP isn't being released on August 28th but rather september 25th and therefore it's technically not an expansion as of yet. I just hate it when people freak out screaming blizzard lied blizzard lied when it is simply written in a way that you need to stop and think and not get ahead of yourself and get all excited over something that isn't promised only to be disappointed when it doesn't happen.

Hopefully this post will clarify some things for people so they understand now what blizzard meant. And I don't mean to sound like a prick...because I am not intending to be one. I just hate to see people get all excited and start preparing for something that just isn't going to happen as soon as they would like. I wish I could play a panda too...but it just won't be the case because well...MoP technically isn't an expansion until it is released. If blizzard wanted to they could scrap the whole project and never release MoP. (And I highly doubt that would happen but you never know!)

If you have any questions about the meaning of the announcement I'd recommend the well-explained previous posts. The amount of confusion over this announcement is a bit surprising.

It is a good move by Blizzard, and I could see this leading to them putting together an updated wow battlechest-type collection that includes vanilla and all expansions at least through cata to help make things simpler for new players. I know if I was new to wow and had to go up to the sales counter with 5 boxes (vanilla and the 4 exp now including mop) I'd probably have to think twice about the game and wonder wth I was getting myself into...

You wont be able to make a pandaren during patch 5.0.4 which is released in august. They just made so you can make a blood elf, draenei, worgen, goblin and a pandaren without needing the x-pac. The restriction is still on classes like you need wotlk for dk and mop for monk
"This includes the enigmatic pandaren, who will become available for play when Mists of Pandaria is released on Tuesday, September 25."
Pandaren wont be released untill 25sept with monks and everything else

Not sure why so much disdain for this change. It really doesn't affect anyone who is currently playing or who has no desire to return to WOW. This was intended for the potential new players who want to give WOW a test drive with the "free play" from level 1 to 20, as it it will let them check out whichever race they want right off the bat and allow them a much better position to decide for themselves if it's a game that they want to continue to play.